South Korea prevailed over Portugal in the only duel, 20 years ago
That meeting with the South Koreans also ended the career of some players in the national team, such as Jorge Costa, Paulo Sousa, Abel Xavier, Paulo Bento, Pedro Barbosa and João Vieira Pinto.
Portugal, already qualified for the round of 16, and South Korea face each other again 20 years after the only duel between the two and which resulted in the Portuguese elimination of the first football World Cup held in Asia.
As happened in 2002, the match between the two descendants will take place in the last round of the group stage, now in Qatar, and the team from the quinas has already stamped the passage to the next stage, unlike the South Koreans, coached by Paulo Bento, who doesn’t just depend on himself to move forward.
Besides, the situation is very different from that of the 2002 World Cup, in which South Korea was host together with Japan and, at the start of the last round of Group D, was fighting Portugal and the United States to qualify for the round of 16.
The formation led by António Oliveira, which had its base in the golden generation – with names such as Luís Figo, Rui Costa, Fernando Couto, Jorge Costa, Vítor Baía or João Vieira Pinto, reinforced with Sérgio Conceição, Pauleta or Paulo Bento himself -, came from a defeat with the United States (2-3) and a thrashing against Poland (4-0), needing to win or draw and wait for Poland, already eliminated, to beat the North Americans.
On June 14, 2002, everything came together for such a scenario to be consummated, since, after five minutes, Poland was already beating the United States by 2-0, in Daejeon, but everything started to “fall apart” even before half an hour, when “JVP” was expelled with a straight red card, leaving the corner team with one less element.
The null (0-0) that was recorded at half-time in Incheon still fed Portuguese hopes, which protected a new blow with the expulsion of Beto and would end, shortly afterwards, with the only goal of the match, signed by Park Ji-Sung (1 -0), which thus ensured the triumph and qualification of the Asians, along with the United States.
Considered as one of the favorites to fight for the world title, given the footballing values it had, Portugal said goodbye to the competition without honor or glory and the direct consequence was a profound remodeling in the Portuguese formation, right away with the departure of António Oliveira from command. and the entry of the Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari.
That encounter with the South Koreans also led to the end of the careers of some players in the national team, such as Jorge Costa, Paulo Sousa, Abel Xavier, Paulo Bento, Pedro Barbosa and João Vieira Pinto, the latter of which, who now of the director of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), was suspended by FIFA for six months – the sentence would be reduced to four – following the aggression against the Argentine referee Ángel Sánchez, when he was sent off.
Portugal and South Korea will play on Friday, starting at 18:00 local time (15:00 in Lisbon), at the Education City Stadium, in Doha.